Innovation: Shell’s Investing in a Battery Startup Targeting Grocery Stores

Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s corporate venture arm and GXP Investments led a $7.6 million investment in energy storage startup Axiom Energy to expand its service to grocery stores and cold-storage facilities.

The round also included WorldQuant Ventures LLC, SV Tech Ventures and Meson Capital Partners LLC, according to a statement from the Richmond, California-based startup.

Axiom’s refrigeration battery freezes tanks of salt water at night when electricity costs are low and then provides cooling services during the day when power prices are high. The company says it can reduce peak energy demand by as much as 40 percent.